The present invention is generally directed to viewing content associated with an electronic file attached to an electronic mail message. The invention supports publication of content associated with an electronic file attachment by launching a file attachment, thereby resulting in the execution of computer instructions that launch a browser program which displays the content at a web site identified by the file attachment.
Electronic mail programs are used by business and residential users to communicate information contained within the body of an electronic mail message or attached as an electronic file or document to the electronic mail message. For example, a user can save a business report as an electronic document prepared by a word processing program and attach this electronic document to an e-mail message for distribution to designated recipients. Another representative example is the transmission of an electronic mail message having an attached multi-media presentation file, such as a Microsoft xe2x80x9cPOWERPOINTxe2x80x9d slide show, to designated recipients at physically remote locations. Users of electronic mail programs commonly use electronic mail messages as a carrier mechanism for forwarding electronic files or documents via a computer network to one or more designated recipients.
Although the combination of an electronic mail program and a distributed computer network provides an efficient communication system for communicating with multiple parties, the capacity of this electronic mail system to support communications can be degraded by the transfer of messages having large-sized attachments. Electronic mail users observe this degradation of electronic mail system performance as a delay in completing the transmission or reception of a message having a large file attachment. This is especially evident when accessing electronic mail remotely over low speed modem connections. Also, system administrators view the exchange of attached electronic files via the electronic mail system as a storage capacity issue because communication of these large file attachments, requires electronic mail servers having sufficient capacity to store both messages and attachments for system users.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for providing the recipient of an electronic mail message with the ability to access electronic content without forwarding this content as an attached file or document of an electronic mail message. There is a further need for communicating the content of a large electronic file or document to a remote recipient without forwarding the entire content as an attachment to an electronic mail message. The present invention solves these and other needs of the prior art by publishing content at a web site viewable by an electronic mail recipient in response to accessing an attached file of an electronic mail message transmitted to that recipient.
The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and system for communicating content intended for delivery to a recipient of an electronic mail message having an attached electronic file. The attached electronic file can be accessed in response to an input signal issued by an input device, such as a keyboard or pointing device, that is manipulated by the recipient of the electronic mail message. The identity of a remote server computer, such as a web site on an intranet or the global Internet, can be obtained in response to accessing the attached electronic file. The remote server computer publishes the content intended for communication to the email message recipient. This content can be displayed to the recipient by using the identity to establish a connection with the remote server. By providing the recipient of the electronic mail message with an automated mechanism for viewing the content at this identified remote server computer, the present invention eliminates the need to store this content within the attached file itself.
More particularly described, the present invention supports the communication of electronic content by using an electronic mail message to transport an electronic file attachment having instructions that, when executed by the recipient""s computer, enable the recipient to view the electronic content by accessing a server computer identified by the electronic file attachment. In response to an input signal transmitted by a user""s manipulation of an input device, the electronic file attachment is accessed by an electronic mail program. This electronic file attachment is typically opened for viewing within the viewing window of a document view program. For one aspect of the invention, the electronic file attachment contains a limited amount of content, such as a text-based instruction message, for viewing by the recipient within the viewing window. For example, a representative instruction message offers the recipient instructions on how to access a larger set of content by launching the electronic file attachment. In response to an input signal for launching the electronic file attachment, a browser program is launched to access content at a remote server computer identified by the attached file. This results in an automated transition from the electronic mail program environment to the browser program environment to support viewing of the content hosted at the remote server computer.
Prior to the advent of the present invention, a user of an electronic mail program would have forwarded content of interest to the recipient of the electronic mail message within the body of an electronic mail attachment. The present invention enables the user to post content at a remote server computer and to send an electronic mail attachment containing instructions (rather than lengthy content) that command the recipient""s computer to identify and access this content at the remote server computer. By accessing the electronic mail attachment, instructions contained in this attached file are executed to support the presentation by a browser program of content maintained at the identified remote server computer. The attached file can include an identifier, such as an address or link for a web site, that identifies a storage mechanism other than the electronic mail attachment for the content intended for delivery to the recipient of the electronic mail message.
Advantageously, the present invention does not suffer from the performance problems of the prior art. Electronic content intended for delivery to the recipient of a electronic mail message can be communicated by a web site identified by an electronic mail attachment rather than by storing this content within the electronic mail attachment itself. The information publication power of a distributed computer network, such as a corporate intranet or the global Internet, is leveraged by enabling a recipient of an electronic mail message to access an attached file and to xe2x80x9cjumpxe2x80x9d from the electronic mail program to content hosted at a remote computer site and viewable by a browser program. In this manner, the storage resources of an electronic mail system are conserved because the present invention eliminates the need to send lengthy file attachments with electronic mail messages to communicate information to the recipients of such messages.